German police identify seven Ukrainian suspects in Nord Stream sabotage
According to several reports, all the members of the sabotage commando Nord Stream 2 were identified. They are said to be seven Ukrainians. Ukrainian authorities are said to have played a crucial role in entering Germany.
Nearly three years after the Nord Stream pipeline explosion, the German federal police have identified all the suspects in the sabotage operation. This was reported by the German media outlets Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and ARD, citing sources close to the investigation. The suspects are members of the Ukrainian commando group suspected of destroying the pipelines.
Six arrest warrants have been issued for the crew members of the sailing yacht used in the sabotage, according to the media. All suspects are Ukrainian. The team reportedly consisted of several divers, an explosives expert, a coordinator, and a skipper.
A total of seven crew members were aboard the chartered yacht Andromeda. One of them, Vsevelod K., has since been killed at the front, according to research by de Volkskrant and Nieuwsuur .
Nord Stream was a multi-billion dollar German-Russian project involving two pipelines, the second of which had not yet been commissioned when it was blown up in September 2022.
Last week, a Ukrainian man was arrested in Italy on suspicion of sabotaging the pipelines. The suspect, Serhii K., was on vacation. He is believed to have been the coordinator of the sabotage.
Another suspect, Yuri T. from Odesa, is a well-known sailor. He was reportedly identified after being asked to provide his fingerprints during a previous visit to the Netherlands. These turned out to match fingerprints found by German police on the yacht the commandos allegedly used for the sabotage operation.
Ukrainian Valeria T. would have been the only female crew member. She holds the Ukrainian women’s deep-sea diving record.
Crew member Volodymyr Z. lived in Poland. His location had already been discovered, but he fled to Ukraine last summer with the help of a Ukrainian defense attaché. Germany had requested Poland’s extradition.
Ties with the government
After the 2022 attack, Russia and Ukraine initially accused each other of the sabotage, but over time evidence mounted that Ukraine was behind it.
It remains unclear who ordered the sabotage. According to investigators, the team traveled with two sets of false passports. They had a Romanian passport, which was completely forged.
In addition, they traveled with Ukrainian passports on which the names were fictitious, but the passports were issued by Ukraine. This could indicate ties to the Ukrainian government.
A MIVD source previously said that Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny was involved in the operation. Both Ukrainian President Zelensky and the Commander-in-Chief have denied knowledge of the sabotage.
